Windows of Photography

 

Tilt-Shift (It's Just An Illusion)

The above photographs were processed in Photoshop CS5 as Tilt-Shit images. Tilt-Shift imagery is really an optical illusion. A Tilt-Shift image tricks’ the viewer’s eyes (and mind) in believing that they are looking at a photograph of a miniature diorama.

The following steps will assist you in creating your own Tilt-Shift images:

1. Choose the right photograph (typically an image shoot from above works best).
2. In Photoshop select the Edit in Quick Mask Mode (Q)
3. Then select the Gradient Tool (G)
4. Then within the Gradient Tool Bar select the Reflected Gradient icon
5. In the Gradient Editor use the pull-down menu and select Foreground to Background
6. Make sure in the Set Foreground Color that Black is the foreground and White is the background
7. Now select your focus area by placing your curser on your image and click and hold your left mouse button and dragging it across your focus area then release your mouse button. Your focus area should appear in a transparent red glow.
8. Now select the Edit in Standard Mode (Q) icon again.  You should see an outline of marching ants.
9. Select Filter > Blur > Lens Blur.  This will open your image in a new window.
10. In the Lens Blur windows adjust the Iris Radius (typically I find that 20-30 is a good number, but you’ll have to use your own judgment at this point).
11. When you’re happy with your Iris Radius setting select OK.
12. To remove the marching ants press CNRL-D.
13. At this point if you have not done it yet, you may want to consider increasing the Saturation, Contrast and/or Structure of your image to increase the modeling effect of your photograph.

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Metadata: Nikon D3 with a Nikon NIKKOR AF-S 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6G lens, Subject Distance: Infinity, Exposure: 1/60s at f/6.3, ISO: 200, Focal Length: 24mm, Filter: Circular Polarizer, Lighting: Natural Daylight, Post Processing: Adobe Photoshop CS5, Date: 07/31/2010 at 11:20 am

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